Who built the modern State of Yisrael

Recently, Minister Miri Regev has come yet again under a monthly dose of fire, this time over the assertive manner in which she protected PM Benjamin Netanyahu. As always, the critics could not resist the temptation of Making some semi-racist remarks about Miri Regev’s origins’ accompanied with the reminder that “The Left Founded the state.

Did it? Most of us, myself included, occasionally repeat this myth, and in our imagination we envision Socialist pioneers with a Russian accent and rolled up sleeves, who courageously left the conservative tradition behind and made their way to the deserted land to create all out of nothing. Is that the case indeed? Prior to checking that, we need to preface and say that the Zionist Left did much. It has established kibbutzim and agricultural communities, it created facts on the ground which created an interminable Jewish territoriality. Most of the "Homa Umigdal" (an improvised construction system during the British Mandate period) settlements, which were important for drawing borders were part of the Left. The Left created central institutions, prepared for the future state and turned Hebrew into an everyday language. Eliezer ben Yehudah was indeed the person who revived the language but it was the immigrants from the movements of the Left were the ones who took it seriously and insisted on the use of the language. The Left led the way to instating the ethos of labor and safeguard.

It raised awareness to the necessity of Jews working their ancestral land rather than using Arab workers. The Left was momentous in setting up the military wing of the Jews in Yisrael the Haganah and the Palmach which later became the IDF. One cannot underestimate the cardinal role of the Zionist Left movements.

However, and it is a big however, the Left was not alone. Along with it were many others. Its historical sin was that it decided to entirely exclude the others instead of sharing with them the honor that they deserved. The Left took control of the narrative, dictated what future generations will know or rather not know.

When I was at the age of zero and a bit, in elementary school, my friends and I wrote a song for the Choir: "In the beginning there was swamps and barren land/until our brothers arrived, they were the Bil"uyim/ they set up settlements/ and had no choice but to fight the Arabs."

This is what we absorbed from our studies. No one, no teacher, no parent, bothered to correct us that the bil"uyim were but a small and insignificant group of the first wave of immigration, sixty people, half of whom escaped back to Russia and those that remained ended up fighting among themselves, the way the assertive socialists do. Not a success story to say the least.

And oh, by the way, - another small detail: in 1980, prior to the first wave of mass immigration, there were already 27,000 Jews (mostly Sfaradim) in Eret Yisrael, later reffered to as "Hayeshuv Hayashan," descendants of the continuous Jewish presence in the land.

When did the first wave of immigration start? All together now - 1882. Wrong. The first waves started already in 1881. These included 2500 Yemenite Jews. But in 1882 the first fourteen Bilu"yim arrived and the Bolshevik educational system brainwashed us into believing that they were the forerunners. Until this very day, on the Labor party's web page, Bil"u is mentioned as those whose arrival in Eretz Yisrael symbolized the first wave of immigration.

Thirty four settlements were established during the first wave of immigration, out of them how many were created by Bil"u? Twenty? Ten? Shall we compromise on three? One - Gedera. And even that was due to the purchase of land for them by Rabbi Yechiel Pines of the Religious Zionism. No one hinted that almost all of those from the first wave of immigration and the old establishment were religious, observant Jews. What was stressed repeatedly was Bil"u Bil"u Bil"u, the acronym of Beit Yaakov Lechu Venelcha. Needless to mention that the verse from Isaiah (2;5) was never quoted in it entirety, "Beit Yaakov Lecho Venelcha B'or Hashem." ("Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord"). After all, Socialists are enlightened people, they do not discuss nonsense of those who are religious.

Out of curiosity, I decided to check and see how many of the towns in Yisrael were established by the Left.

The exit outside of the Walls in Jerusalem started already in the middle of the 19th century, so, it turns out, there was not much of the Left there. There were Ashkenazic as well as Sefardic Jews and the main donor was Moses Montefiori with the help of a fund bequeathed by the American Jewish philanthropist, Judah Toro. Both Toro and Montefiore were of Sefardic origins and devoid of any connection to socialism.

Ahuzat Bayit which after a year became Tel-Aviv was established in 1909 by Jews from Jaffa. Judging by their names, most were Ashkenazi without any defined political affiliation (and

why should there be Left or Right to found a settlement? What's the relevance?)

The neighborhoods which preceded Ahuzat Bayit which later included Mahaneh Yehudah, Neve Tzedek and others were established by immigrants from Yemen and North Africa. There is reason to believe that they were not socialists and did not drink from such mecchiato.

The first Jewish settlers in Haifa were Sefardic. Later the settlement widened during the first and second waves of immigration. Yoel Moshe Solomon the one who with his friends made the first experiment in Petah Tikvah "on a damp morning in the year of tarla"ch" (1878), was a rabbi. In the song bearing his name it is not even mentioned that he was one of the founders of the neighborhood of Mea Shearim.

Let us move southward - present day Ashdod was established after the founding of the State of Yisrael and its first residents were Moroccan Jews. Ashkelon, likewise, by the mere fact that it is situated far enough from the pure and unblemished center of the country, it was settled by immigrants from the East. The socialist government still had its delicate touch to the subject - through applying pressure and threats they forced out of the area those Arabs who did not flee in '48. Fortunately, nowadays, they have the time to oppose the commemoration of Gandi.

Rishon letzion was established in the 19th century by the committee of Yesod Hama'alah, founded by a Chabbad member' Zalman Levontin, on lands that were purchased by Baron Rothschild and Haim Amzaleg, who as his name suggests, was not an Ashkenazi. Rehovot, the city of science was established by the Religious Movement- "Menucha V'Nachalah."

Mazkeret Batya, Zichron Ya'akov, Rosh Pinah and many other settlements are the purchase of Baron Rothschild which were settled by different groups of "Hovevei Zion" (Lovers of Zion). Among them were traces of Bil"u and they had to face a reality in which one needs money and a patron in order to realize the Utopia in which one does not need money and a patron.

Herzliya was founded by the Jewish - American (and far from a socialist) "Kehilat Zion" and by Histadroot Benei Binyamin. Since it had Right wing inclinations, it was not sponsored by the Zionist Federation. What else is new.

Benei Binyamin founded, in the late 20's the city of Netanya which names after Natan Shtraus to whom the founders were forced to turn as there was no other monetary resource, so the mere naming of Netanya, testifies to its ‘inappropriate’ political source. An interesting story which is unrelated to Right-Left and testimonial : Natan Shtraus broke his leg while visiting Eretz Yisrael in 1912. As a result, he was forced to cancel his then planned trip from England to New York in a gigantic luxury ship, the first of its kind : the Titanic.

Holon was established through the unification of five neighborhoods, the first of which was founded by Moshe Green, an observant Jew from Jaffa who immediately set up a synagogue next to his hut. Bat-Yam was erected by a nucleus of observant and religious families, originally from Tel - Aviv.

Bnei Brak was formed by the Hareidi Movement of "Bayit Venachalah."

Ra'anana was formed in 1912 by American Jews. The first lands of Kfar Saba were also purchased by Rabbi Yechiel Pines, the very same one who had saved the butt of the last of the Bil"uyim. The first settlers of Kfar Saba in 1903 were religious and secular without any political affiliation, at least not anything that is related to the settlement of the land.

Nes Ziona was founded during the first wave of immigration by a Chabbad Hasid, Reuven Lerer, a member of "Hovevei Zion," since the German who sold it to him told him that it was near Jerusalem. Beit Shemesh, in its early years, a transit camp, where many of its residents were immigrants from middle eastern countries plus a few Romanians and Bulgarians. The same was the case with Kiryat Gat, a transit camp which became a city founded by immigrants from Morocco, and in which a baby girl was born in 1965 to a struggling family, an un-socialist girl, undoubtedly, by the name of Miriam Siboni, whom we know today as Minister Miri Regev.

O.K. so we strike out cities. But what about the defense forces that the Left established? The Palma"ch, and the Haganah and Yigal Alon and the "beautiful forelock?" Everything is correct and everything is very important, but the first Jewish force that fought and liberated an area from the Turks in Eeretz Yisrael was company 38 of the Hebrew Brigade (The Jewish Legion) under the command of – guess who? - Ze'ev Zabotinsky. G-d forbid that we should mention such a detail in the Bolshevik history lesson. Incidentally, Zabotinsky also published a book at that time which explains how to pronounce Hebrew correctly, in a

Sefardic pronunciation.

And let us stress yet again - the Left has done much, very much. We should, by all means, continue to tell it, praise it and sing it. Kol Hakavod. However, the moment it got hold of all power strongholds, it erased the others created an unbalanced political narrative, chewed and agenda ridden truth. And it is known already that half a truth is worse than lying.

In the story, education, the state as a whole, "those who do not sing with us" were pushed aside. There will be those who will say that this is the result of hostility and exclusion of members of the Old Settlement towards the secular socialists who had arrived from Russia with ideas that seemed crazy.

Perhaps, yet the Left's approach since it emerged from its egg during the French Revolution has always been: either you are with us or against us, no middle. And if you are not with us we shall fight you, banish you, embitter your life.

Dear Left, Miriam Siboni, the young girl from Kiryaqt Gat, who became the Minister of Culture and Sport, you should have welcomed with a standing ovation. Miri Regev was your chance to make the switch. But, as always, you responded by acting in an aloof manner and stupid arrogance. You were cheered by being petty over nonsense. You are still with the sensation that you are the state, that it was stolen from you, a sensation which you pass on to the next generation and that is why twenty years old Meretz and Labor voters believe that they have blue blood. So here is the news: Not only is the state is not yours - Yisrael never, at any stage was never your exclusive brand name. Talk about respecting the other? Start with that.

Is Jewish History Repeating Itself?

The last few months, here, in Yisrael, have compelled me to re-evaluate our Jewish history, especially its latest chapter, which is unfolding itself to us, as I write these lines. As many know, Yisrael has been going through a period of upheaval surrounding our recurring elections.

It is not the repeated elections that I have a problem with. Rather, it is the platforms of some, those spewing “justnotBibi” slogans (https://wingnsonawildflight.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-just-not-bibi-party.html and spreading “anti-Hareidi” arrogant messages.

The hatred and disdain displayed at the Hareidi echoes, at least for me, other periods in our long Jewish history, times that were of great concerns to many who lived through them. The contempt projected at that segment of the Yisraeli society is, I believe, the product of both internal and external forces.

Other cultures and traditions, their concepts and values have always been attractive and tempting to our Jewish people. Already in the Book of Samuel 1 (8;5), Am Yisrael demands of him “appoint a king to lead us such as all the other nations have.” How quickly had they forgotten that a)  we are NOT and were never meant to be like “all other nations,” b) that we are not supposed to have any king other than G-d.

Samuel does not understand it. G-d, however, does. “It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king,” He tells distressed Samuel.

Unfortunately, it was not merely the desire to abandon G-d that put our treasured tradition at risk. It involved many other aspects that came as part and parcel of the covenant that we entered with Him at Mount Sinai. It meant not only deserting some observances and customs but some wonderful Jewish values as well.

Who has not heard of the Hellenizing Jews during the ancient Greek and Roman times, those Jews who chose to adopt Roman principles, assume their names, espouse and practice their hedonistic habits while mocking their Jewish ones?

The 12^th century Spanish Jewish society is another such example. The rejection of Jewish values and heritage in favour of the more “enlightened Greek philosophy” threatened to undermine the foundations of Jewish belief among the more educated segment of the Jewish population. The apprehension at what he had witnessed then compelled Rabbi Yehudah Halevi to write his greatest work, “Hakuzari.” The book, originally named, “The Book in defense of the humiliated and debased religion,” was written in response to such trends.

We have all heard about the “forced conversions” and the “secret Jews” during the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition which took place one century later. In a revealing research (“The Origins of the Inquisition in Fifteenth Century Spain” 1995), Professor Ben-Zion Netanyahu challenged some traditional views and suggested that those Jews whether converted unwillingly or otherwise, were dedicated Christians who never practiced their Judaism. Some even became great thinkers of the Christian faith in Spain and reached high ranks in the Church there. Others, according to him, even elected to write books in praise of Christianity and its greatness and lived a Christian life in the true sense of the word.

There are many more examples to such tendencies among our Jewish People.

Only recently, during my studies towards my doctorate degree, I have learned about the devastating effects the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment) movement of the 18^th century posed to Jewish existence. The willful abandonment of Jewish values in favour of adopting foreign ones, the shameful existence laced with anti-semitism and poverty which were the lot of many members of the Jewish population in Eastern Europe, pushed many Jews to convert.

Just like Rabbi Yehudah Halevi, some Jews were concerned about the dangers that loomed over the Jewish world. It was in response to such worries that the Hareidi movement was established in central and eastern Euope the late 18^th century.

And Frankly, I , personally, am grateful for that.

Had Judaism not been preserved and kept by some segments of our Jewish world, what justification would there have been to setting up a Jewish Homeland in Eretz Yisrael? It could have, instead, been established anywhere else (far from this dangerous neighbourhood) as a “state for Jews” rather than the Jewish state.

Which brings me to the sad reality we are faced with in the Yisrael of today. Now that we have a state of our own, why are there forces toiling so hard to remove its Jewish essence? Would we have survived thus far had we not adhered to the commandments of the Torah that were meant to preserve us both physically and spiritually? Why would we want to distance ourselves from the very source that has imbibed us with the elixir of Life, our Torah? Why do we want to be like everyone else when history has shown us time and again that we simply cannot no matter how hard we try?

I remember my late mother telling me how, while incarcerated in the Nazi death Camps, they always asked “My G-d, my G-d, why hast thou forsaken me?”

Dear mom, He has not forsaken us. Rather, in today’s Yisrael, I am afraid, it seems that we, yet again, have forsaken Him.

Shabbat Shalom and may we all have a week filled with every blessing.

Barking (deliberately) at the Wrong Tree

The following article appeared in Hebrew in Israel Hayom on 30.07.2019 following the murder of a young gay Arab man by a family member. It was written by Tal Gilad. I decided to translate it into English for the sake of the English speaking segment of the Israeli population who are not entirely familiar with the antics of the Israeli Left.

Screaming about gay rights and blaming, even by merely hinting, the religious establishment or the entire Israeli society and holding it responsible for the stabbing of an Arab boy by his family, is akin to demonstrating in front of the Knesset against the crime level in the favelas of Rio De Janeiro.

It is impossible to ignore the obvious: the attack is related to the cultural characteristics of the Arab society. However, anyone who will express it explicitly, will be automatically accused of racism. On the other hand, there did not seem to be a problem to accuse the whole Hareidi society of the terrible murder of Shira Banki, may she rest in peace, despite the fact that among the Hareidi community there does not exist a culture of murder for innumerable “justifications,” starting with family honor and ending  with nationalistic revenge.

For some reason, when one deals with the Arab citizens of Israel, the attitude towards gays is not considered an essential problem that needs an intensive treatment.

On the contrary, one must walk on eggshells in order not to offend them. One should avoid talking about motives, education and mentality.

This globalism, the “we are all guilty,” version, is hypocrisy. Dancing  half naked in the streets of Tel Aviv, you will not change by one inch the kind of education a child gets in the Arab society just as you would not be able to change the level of crime in Rio or the rotation of Earth. These are barks at the wrong tree, except the tree is selected deliberately.

Why? Because the concern for gays clashes with the selective principle of “honoring the other.” On the one hand, there is the constant dwelling on women’s rights. On the other, the right of Arabs to degrade women and demand that they cover themselves with burkas because “it is a cultural matter.” The Left is so tolerant that it does not relate to Arabs as rational people who are supposed to blend and become part of in the country in which they live, but as a remote tribe in the Amazon forests whose life style should not be disturbed by giving it a pair of jeans which might spoil the idyllic nature.

Had we been dealing with a Hareidi boy, the Left would have united in an outrageous demand for a pogrom in Benei Brak. However, when we are dealing with a segment where murder for the sake of family honor or revenge are part of its rule of thumb, suddenly it is forbidden to call the child by its name. I do not know exactly how to process the data in the bug full and contradictory politically correct software.

Obviously, it is also convenient. After all, the Left really does not wish to solve problems. It loves them, seeks them, creates them if in lack of them, thrives on them and benefits from them. This is the essence of the Left, to protest and be furious. Perhaps it is better that way. The position in which the Left is in a festival of abstract theater and the Right is in government -  is pretty normal. The Right is rational and knows that two plus two is four, and the Left demonstrates against it since it is racist that two plus two is four.

At the bottom line though, it will not help to look for the coin under the lamplight merely not to offend the  darkness.

The Guardians of Shabbat

It is Shabbat morning here in Eretz Yisrael.

As I sit here, on this sunny and peaceful morning, sipping my morning coffee, I marvel at the wisdom of G-d, for dedicating one day a week to resting and turning the Shabbat into an Oneg , a pleasure.

Shabbat is the most important holiday in the Jewish/Hebrew calendar. It has got to be. Not only does it occur 52 times a year, it is first and foremost the sign of the Covenant between G-d and Am Yisrael, entered at Mount Sinai.

According to Shemot Rabba 25:12; Yerushalmi, Ta’anit 1:1 "the scion of David (Mashiach) will come if they [Am Yisrael] keep just one Shabbat, because the Shabbat is equivalent to all the mitzvot.”

Now, I am not an observant Jew in the traditional sense of the word. I do not have the self-discipline that is needed to be one. I do, however, respect this Mitzvah and remember it each Friday evening when I light Shabbat candles.

For me, Shabbat is a day of reckoning, a day or reflection and a day of expressing gratitude.

Shabbat, according to Ahad Ha'am, a Jewish writer and thinker, has also preserved and shielded Am Yisrael more than our people have kept it.

But is it not only remembering the Shabbat that we, Jews, are required. We are also commanded to observe it.

Let us be honest to ourselves, my fellow Jews. Have we ALL kept and observed this Mitzvah?

The answer, my friends, is known.

We, or at least most of us, do, however, remember Shabbat. In fact, here in Eretz Yisrael, it is impossible not to remember it. We feel it in the air each Friday. The stores are hustling and bustling with last minute shopping. Jews, observant, secular, atheists, as one, wish each other "Shabbat Shalom," as they rush home to prepare, each in their own way, for this very special day.

This few millennia old tradition has been passed on to us from generation to generation.

Time to pause and ask ourselves, who were the true guardians of Shabbat over the centuries?

The answer always leads me to one group, Hareidi and ultra-Orthodox Jews.

Probably not the answer that many would like to hear. In my view, though, it is that very group which many of us disagree with, oppose, mock, despise and resent, which has contributed much to preserving the Shabbat legacy. And yes, there are many aspects of that segment in our Jewish society that I will never approve of.

Nonetheless, let us face it. It is them and their practices that have brought us thus far. If not for their staunch adherence and dedication, often at a dear and high price for their safety and well-being, the Mitzvah and tradition of keeping Shabbat would have not been observed and preserved, at least not the way and manner that G-d has intended for us.

I believe it is them, the few who our great national poet, Bialik described in his immortal poem “ אם יש את נפשך לדעת “ (“If your soul wishes to know” which I highly recommend to any Hebrew literate person to read) as “a few ears of grain, a shadow of what has remained, sorrowful Jews, with dried faces, Jews of the Galut (Diaspora), the ones carrying its burden, those who drown their sorrow in a fading page of Gemara, trying to consign to oblivion their poverty through the ancient debate of the Midrash, trying to forget their worries by reciting Psalms.” A poor sight indeed, but one that has ensured our role in history and has helped us remain the People of Eternity. They are, according to Bialik, “the treasure of our soul,” the “guardians of our great Jewish Spirit.” They are but “a spark,” a sliver of Hope, "the remnant that was miraculously rescued from the great fire which our forefathers had kept burning on their altars, always.”

Hareidi Jews, whether we like to admit it or not, also, are the guardians of our people and our tradition. I will never forget that. I cannot forget that and forever will be grateful to them and all the other Guardians of the wonderful gift of Shabbat throughout our turmoiled and eventful Jewish history.

Shavua tov.